Microsoft Security Essentials

I have been wondering about the frequency that MSE is updated. Other AV are updated almost every minute, like Norton's pulse update. But if MSE is not manually updated it can take days before anything happens.
Am I missing something in the way MSE should be installed?

I have been wondering about the frequency that MSE is updated. Other AV are updated almost every minute, like Norton's pulse update. But if MSE is not manually updated it can take days before anything happens.
Am I missing something in the way MSE should be installed?

Hirudoid

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I believe MSE updates once per day, along with the other windows updates.

I have been wondering about the frequency that MSE is updated. Other AV are updated almost every minute, like Norton's pulse update. But if MSE is not manually updated it can take days before anything happens.
Am I missing something in the way MSE should be installed?

Hirudoid

Click to expand...

Extract from Microsoft Answers Home Page and the FAQ concerning MSE updates:

The Microsoft Antimalware group deploys updates for MSE (also Forefront and Windows Live OneCare) typically a few times daily. It is not critical for you to check for updates throughout the day because when MSE checks for updates, the offered updates will be downloaded and added to the database.

MSE will report that it is up to date and in good status even if the definitions are a few days old on the PC. Note that MSE uses the local signatures for common protection, but it also employs behavioral detection. If suspicious activity is detected, MSE will communicate with the servers to determine if a match has been reported and will immediately download any information needed to deal with the threat if a match is found.

Updates are a once per 24 hour check on a schedule determined by MSE. There is no setting within MSE to change the scheduled time or frequency.

Optionally, you can add a check for updates by setting check for updates before scan and setting up a scheduled scan daily (for a time when the PC will be on as it won't run a missed scan later).

MSE will also check 10 minutes or so after boot or wake from sleep if there is a network connection *and* the current updates are greater than 24 hours old.
It will *not* perform this catch up check if the current definitions were installed within the past 24 hours, but will wait until the next scheduled check time.

** This "catch up" check is apparently not always working for people on wake from sleep/standby/hibernate. Microsoft is aware of this problem and are working to fix this in a future release. So, if the PC happens to be asleep when the scheduled check is supposed to happen, and you don't have the extra check enabled, and you don't reboot, you can have older definitions. In some cases, several days old.(Note that this appears to have been fixed in build 1961)

MSE will report that it is up to date until the signatures are greater than 7 days old. At that point, it will change the status to At Risk so that you can check for updates manually.

MSE will not update through an authenticated Proxy Server.

MSE cannot update using WSUS. Since MSE is designed for home use, this should be rarely encountered.

You can manually check for updates at any time, though this should not generally be needed. Open MSE, click on the Updates tab and click the button to check for updates.

You can manually download a full engine and definition package from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center and apply it to a PC running MSE without a clear network connection, if desired. The full package is quite large, about 40 megs. Typically, the automatic (or manual from within MSE) updates are a few megs in size.

I'm using the current release (not the beta) and have seen it go 48 hours without an update. I don't think they "quite" have the sleep/reboot bug figured out yet.

With that said, it doesn't bother me at all. I always thought that other AVs updated far too often. Although not a bad thing, I don't think it necessary unless you're out hunting for 0 day threats or what have you.

Load of nonsense. Microsoft might release signatures several times a day, but client doesn't check for them several times a day. In fact by default it checks only once per 24 hours. So what's good releasing them several times a day if client only checks for them so rarely? Changing checking to every 4 hours would be like a massive improvement already. It's just idiotic. I remember Norton updating strctly weekly where pretty much everyone were already updating daily or at least few times a week. These days checking for updates only every 24 hours is just lame, especially if you provide defs but clients don't check for them...

Good point Rejzoor, that was my question. My daughter's MSE is often in the state "At Risk". She doesn't do a manual update on her PC.
Why don't Microsoft provide a faster update service when all other vendors have gone in the other direction.

Good point Rejzoor, that was my question. My daughter's MSE is often in the state "At Risk". She doesn't do a manual update on her PC.
Why don't Microsoft provide a faster update service when all other vendors have gone in the other direction.

I think the point of MS updating several times a day, but the user's program only checking once a day does serve a purpose.

For example, if MS updated only once a day at say 1pm US time, but if I only turned my pc on before that time each day, I'd be receiving the 1pm updates the next day.

If they update several times a day, meaning every few hours, no matter when the user turns their PC on, updates should/can be downloading.

hirudoid22, uncheck the yellow highlight, and set scan to daily, your daughter's pc will be updated every day. Quick scan will update definitions before running a few minute scan. Let me know how it goes.

The beta MSE updates more than once everyday if there are available updates.When i open my computer in the morning it updates and when i come from work and start, it updates again if updates are available. I have seen it only in the BETA version not the stable one.

the new version out this week updates quite frequently and the issues from the past seem to be rectified. this version is like night and day compared to the current one. It is a lot lighter, opening folders, no drag, this one is as peppy as any other products I have tried.

On 3 computers memory usage is equal to about Eset. But for some reason on my 64 bit Vista HP, memory usage is twice as high and I cant figure it out. On the other 3 it is half that amount and one of them is a 64 bit.

I thought the Dynamic Signature Service was suppose to take care of threats till a new update was pushed to the client. I have never really seen it in action but from what I have read it seems rather interesting.

the new version out this week updates quite frequently and the issues from the past seem to be rectified. this version is like night and day compared to the current one. It is a lot lighter, opening folders, no drag, this one is as peppy as any other products I have tried.

On 3 computers memory usage is equal to about Eset. But for some reason on my 64 bit Vista HP, memory usage is twice as high and I cant figure it out. On the other 3 it is half that amount and one of them is a 64 bit.